


Cross My Heart

by Detrimentum



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, F/M, Grief, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suicidal Ideation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-04 00:30:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5312969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Detrimentum/pseuds/Detrimentum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two "Sole Survivors" mark the Commonwealth in their own ways at different points in time under the belief the other is deceased. Both have one goal: to locate their infant son, Shaun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cross My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of Nate's experience in Vault 111 after awakening told in third person.

Death is the final stage of life, right after growing old on a rocking chair with visits from loved ones. It's not the bright light of peace seen in the movies at a Drive-In with a high school sweetheart. Death is being evicted without notice, the body that was once inhabited is deemed vacant. The body that once was full of warmth, smiles, laughter, love, and sadness, is cold and empty. Death strikes in the worst possible ways, causing extreme pain to those closest to the blast.

When he came to, he believed the process was complete and they could leave. Yet he felt unable to move, he shivered as the cold relentlessly blew at him and eyes glued to the pod across. Nora and Shaun looked so peaceful, a smile crept up before turning into a frown as two figures approached. Fluttering his eyelids as he fought the drowsy feeling, he caught sight of a man in a white suit snatching his boy away from his wife's arms. She resisted but the man refused to accept defeat until another pulled a pistol out.

"I'm not giving you Shaun!" The barrel was pointed right at her! Nate opened his mouth but nothing could escape. His hands fought the sleepy feeling and rose up, smacking against the window with force that quickly drained away.

'Take me, don't take him.' He thought to himself as he tried to speak, praying that they'd take notice. 'Don't hurt them. Please.'

The pod's window fogged up as the pistol fired into the air and the voices ceased discussion. An infant's cries broke the silence and grew faint until staggered breathing became all that was heard. In his last moments of consciousness, he felt his heart sinking and his calloused hand weakly smacking the opening. "N..Nora..." Emerald eyes fluttered shut, head leaning against the pod's wall as the temperatures dropped.

Alarms blared in his ears a few minutes later, he groaned as he pulled his sore arm to prop himself up straight. Words were incoherent as he began to pry his eyelids open with his fingers. His head was killing him, he moaned as he rose a hand up to rub away the grogginess that lingered in his tired eyes. As the pod began to clear up the fog, he caught sight of his beautiful wife leaning against the pod wall in an awkward pose. Eyes narrowed as he wondered why, though as the door began to rise, the events of before ran in his head like a film.

Catching him off guard, the door opened and he fell face forward onto the ground and instantly extended his arms to keep himself from smashing into the floor. Eyes floated up, catching sight of her. "Nora.." His raspy voice began to say as he approached the pod across from him. Fingers touched the window for a brief second only to be stopped by the intense cold. Knitting his brows, he took note of a short trail of blood from her right temple and swallowed hard. Her messy brown locks covered the source but he was thankful he didn't have to see the meaty contents of her pretty head.

He gasped and felt his eyes swell with tears, heart skipping a beat as he fell to his knees. Lip quivered and fingers trembled, he'd dealt with death before on several occasions. Having been in the war as a grunt on the front lines, he witnessed death first hand and claimed lives with his own trusty rifle. The motivator to keep his sanity was returning home, to scoop that dame in his arms, and knowing that he would keep her safe by claiming those lives. Though the deaths still haunted him day and night, in each activity he enjoyed. When they resumed their wedding planning, the sudden death of his father left him sulking in bed for weeks and he found himself broken. If it weren't for Nora, he would have starved to death and never gotten up. She picked up his pieces and helped piece him together again when she didn't need to. Without her, he'd still be the broken man he was when he returned. 

The alarms continued to sound, interrupting his train of thought, "I'll find our baby - I'll find Shaun." He firmly spoke into the air, sighing deeply before finally parting ways with his beloved. Leaving her there pained him, he felt nauseous with each step forward and wasn't sure if it was from leaving the pod or his wife without a proper goodbye.

No goodbye would ease the emptiness within him, he couldn't stand to be underground knowing she was there but wasn't there. As much as he wanted to stay, to stay and never leave, he couldn't leave Shaun alone in the world. "It's just you and me now, Shaun." Nate nervously told himself in a hushed tone, dragging his legs along the metallic floors.

A few mere minutes had passed after all since the incident occurred, he could still catch up to the thugs. 


End file.
